span of time before recorded history

Prehistory (or pre-history) is the time before people began to write. The word comes from the Ancient Greek words προ (pre = "before") and ιστορία (historia = "history"). Paul Tournal first used the French word Préhistorique. He found things made by humans more than ten thousand years ago in some caves in France. The word was first used in France around 1830 to talk about the time before writing. Daniel Wilson used it in English in 1851.

The term is mostly used for the period from 12,000 BC – 3000 BC, roughly speaking, the Neolithic. Sometimes the term "prehistoric" is used for much older periods, but scientists have more accurate terms for those more ancient times.

Less is known about prehistoric people because there are no written records (history) for us to study. Finding out about pre-history is done by archaeology. This means studying things like tools, bones, buildings and cave drawings. Pre-history ends at different times in different places when people began to write.

In the more ancient stone age pre-history, people lived in tribes and lived in caves or tents made from animal skin. They had simple tools made from wood and bones, and cutting tools from stone such as flint, which they used to hunt and to make simple things. They made fire and used it for cooking and to stay warm. They made clothing out of animal skins, and later by weaving. Society started when people began doing specialized jobs. This is called the division of labour. The division of labor made people depend on one another and led to more complex civilizations.



Timeline of EarthEdit

  • 4.5 billion years ago – Earth formed out of smaller rocks flying around the sun
  • 500 million years ago - first plants and animals on land
  • 230 million years ago – first dinosaurs appear
  • 30 million years ago - first apes
  • 2.5 million years ago - first humans

Timeline of peopleEdit

  • 2.5 million years ago – Start of Lower Palaeolithic age, during which a type of early pre-human called Australopithecus lived. These people made tools out of bones and stones and made shelters out of branches.
  • 100,000 years ago – Middle Palaeolithic age. Neanderthal people lived. People live in caves and make cave drawings. People begin to bury dead people.
  • 10,000 years ago – The last Ice age ends.
  • 6,000 BC – British Isles move away from Europe.
  • 2,400 BC – People make Stonehenge in England.